Mastering Regression Testing for a Flawless Banking App

In 2023, 76% of Australian Millennials and 69% of Generation Z forecast to accomplish their financial tasks via mobile applications. The tendency is anticipated for further growth in the years to come, according to KMS  digital banking report.

The evolving digital gamut and diverse customer needs have encouraged financial institutions and banks to invest in software updates with new features that may unintentionally disrupt existing functions, impacting the overall performance of the product and, ultimately, the brand. To prevent such a scenario, regression testing is considered the prominent way to ensure the innovation won’t contribute to bugs or other issues.

What is Regression Testing?

Whenever apps undergo modifications, even with minor updates, the change may lead to unforeseen consequences. The purpose of regression testing in the banking app is to verify that the recent code changes haven’t adversely affected the existing features and functionalities. 

To achieve the desired outcomes, regression tests need to be comprehensive and exhaustive. In some cases, even small code modifications have resulted in the breakdown of functionalities that appear entirely unrelated to the change.  For instance, introducing a new QR code payment feature into a banking app could unexpectedly cause authorization issues. Therefore, regression testing cannot be limited to just a few critical functionalities.

• Benefits of Regression Testing

Regression testing is particularly essential in the banking and financial services sectors, where the accuracy and reliability of software directly impact the customer experience and the overall security of financial transactions. By conducting thorough regression testing, banking institutions can mitigate the risks associated with users’ financial data or app stability, ensuring that their apps continue to deliver seamless performance and maintain data integrity.

Conducting regular regression testing with every single update will lead to a wide range of additional advantages that justify the time and the associated expenditure.

Goals of Regression Testing

• Ensuring Uninterrupted Functionality

The fundamental aim of regression testing is to protect the current functionalities of software applications. When new features or alterations are introduced, the primary concern is to ensure that these modifications do not disrupt the established features that users depend on. By verifying that the software continues to function correctly after changes, regression testing helps maintain the stability of the system.

• Verifying App Stability

Stability is a key parameter in the software realm. Regression testing targets the stability of the banking app by ensuring that it can withstand the changes without compromising its overall performance. This comprehensive examination helps maintain the system's stability, reliability, and robustness.

• Ensuring Compliance and Security

Mobile banking is governed by a set of stringent regulations strived to ensure standardization and customer protection. Therefore, regression testing has become particularly critical for ensuring compliance with industry standards and safeguarding data security. Through this testing, the system's compliance with regulatory requirements and its robustness against security threats is verified.

• Optimizing User Experience

User experience is a key success factor for any software. 

Regression testing isn’t only about addressing significant security or data privacy issues but also has a huge impact on usability. This type of test ensures that the changes made do not negatively impact the user experience. Maintaining a smooth, intuitive, and reliable user interface is a fundamental goal of regression testing.

How to Perform Regression Testing?

Regression testing approaches differ across banking institutions. However, there are always several crucial steps that should be followed.:

1. Define Changes in Source Code

Identifying the influence and risk of the latest code modification is essential for creating a solid regression test. Conducting code review sessions aids in detecting changed components or modules and understanding their impact on existing features.

A tip here is to utilize version control systems such as Git to compare the disparities between the old and new code.

2. Prioritize Affected Areas and Test Cases

The next step is to determine which modifications should undergo comprehensive testing and which ones can suffice with adequate testing. Changes that affect core features of banking apps, such as Account Management, Secure Authentication, etc., or those that substantially modify the app's functionality should always be given top priority.

Given the regression testing’s repetitive nature, many QA teams in the banking industry have standardized the process with automation testing. 

3. Select the Test Cases to Re-run

After coming to an agreement on the changes requiring examination, the QA team can proceed to choose the tests to be executed. Although the teams generally have a range of test suites ready to be performed, they only have to test relevant ones in each regression testing session. The test cases to re-run should be chosen based on the source code-modified module.

4. Categorize Regression Test Cases

Some common criteria for categorizing tests comprise:

• Manual vs automated regression tests: Manual testing is suitable for ad-hoc or non-repetitive test cases, while automated testing is more efficient for repetitive series of test steps.
• Critical vs non-critical features: evaluate test cases according to their urgency and importance, with assigned values (high, medium, low). Based on unique business requirements,  other factors can also be brought into consideration.
• Testing types: Different testing types (e.g., functional, non-functional) require distinct setups, tools, and environments. Classifying test cases by type allows for better control over testing activities, and many teams prefer a centralized testing system for simplicity and versatility across various test types.

5. Test Environment Preparation

Ensuring the availability of test environments is crucial for regular regression testing. With the ongoing banking app development or updates, it's essential to maintain stable and available environments to avoid disruptions to the planned testing schedule. Additionally, inadequate environment setup can lead to test failures, overlooked defects, and false positives/negatives.

6. Schedule And Execute Tests

In this phase, every test case is executed individually at a designated time to ensure the product functions as anticipated. Automated and manual testing can be employed depending on detailed demands and requirements. Automated tools like Katalon, Selenium, Watir, etc., can accelerate the test case execution.

Best Practices of Regression Testing for Banking Apps

• Implement Test Data Management Strategies

Effective test data management is integral to regression testing in banking apps, where the validation of diverse transaction scenarios and data inputs is essential. Implementing strategies for creating and managing test data that spans a wide spectrum of banking operations, including account transactions, fund transfers, and regulatory compliance, enables comprehensive validation of the app's core functionalities under varying data conditions.

• Combine With Smoke and Sanity Test

Conducting frequent checks can significantly save time and effort for testers. Smoke tests involve running non-exhaustive tests to assess the fundamental functions of the software, while sanity tests focus on verifying minor code changes to ensure that previous errors are resolved and no new issues are introduced.

• Leverage Test Automation

While test automation offers substantial benefits in terms of efficiency and repeatability, it is imperative to exercise judiciousness in its application. Selecting the right test cases for automation, maintaining robust test scripts, and ensuring compatibility across diverse platforms and devices are pivotal considerations for leveraging test automation effectively in the context of banking app regression testing.

• Regularly Update Regression Packs

One of the crucial practices that is worth consideration is updating the regression packs on a regular basis. A new digital banking feature comes with a set of test cases like a regression pack that is written and drafted with the help of a requirement specifications document and should be regularly updated to align with software updates, ensuring accurate and effective test results.

• Consider AI in Regression Testing

AI holds great promise in revolutionizing regression testing. Some use cases of AI in regression testing include:

• Automated test generation: quickly create test cases according to several sources of information such as requirements, user data, server logs, code base, etc.
• Predictive analysis: analyze historical data to forecast and highlight potential defects proactively.
• Test suite maintenance
• Self-healing
• Test-gap analysis

How We Can Help BFSI Companies Perform Regression Testing

As we move forward and achieve more impressive milestones, regression testing remains an excellent match for not only banks but also enterprises in the BFSI sector. It is capable of enhancing an organization's capability to release regular updates without compromising its reliability and stability, a critical aspect for modern banks striving for competitiveness.

KMS Solutions experts with multiple skill sets and domain focus can access the latest innovations in the testing field and provide comprehensive testing strategies, including Quality Engineering, Regression Testing, Performance Testing, API Testing, Security Testing, and other test cases to help clients in the financial services industry gain a holistic, 360˚ test coverage and re-engineer the complex testing process.